interstatecommuter38

lupieangel

These kids that come from poor families have worries that they shouldn't have to. They worry will there be enough to eat until the next paycheck. They also worry that they will be teased for the clothes or shoes they have to wear. And when you struggled to make enough to buy what the school supply list ask for, then every teacher will ask you to get more and more items. Things like this make it hard on students to concentrate on their school work. I recently found out that my son who will be graduating this year always went to school worried about me. I have a lot of health issues & he worried he may come home and I wouldn't be here. That's a heavy burden on any kid.

ContraryOne

"A similar shift in the distribution of rewards has occurred within firms and within industries, with much more of the income captured by superstar performers or those at the top. Fifty years ago, the typical corporate chief executive earned less than 50 times the pay of the average front-line worker. Today, the ratio is closer to 350 to 1.

These shifts suggest that the way markets distribute rewards is neither divinely determined nor purely the result of the “invisible hand.” It is determined by laws, regulations, technology, norms of behavior, power relationships, and the ways that labor and financial markets operate and interact. These arrangements change over time and can dramatically affect market outcomes and incomes."

ContraryOne

"In an economy of self-sufficient farmers and ranchers, people can point to something and credibly claim, “I produced that” or “I built that.” But in a modern, complex economy, the connection between what is produced and who is responsible for producing it is not so obvious. Modern business is a team sport.

It was only 20 years ago, for example, that wage and salary earners reliably captured about 75 percent of the national income, with the rest going to the providers of capital. But in recent years, labor’s share has fallen closer to 67 percent."

ContraryOne

"Here at home, large swaths of the economy have been deregulated, and tax rates have been cut. A good portion of what is left of government has been outsourced, while even education is moving toward school choice. In embracing welfare reform, Americans have acknowledged that numerous programs meant to lift up the poor instead trapped them in permanent dependency and poverty.

But more recently, we’ve seen another side of free markets: stagnant incomes, gaping inequality, a string of crippling financial crises and 20-somethings still living in their parents’ basements. These realities are forcing free-market advocates and their allies in the Republican Party to pursue a new strategy. Instead of arguing that free markets are good for you, they’re saying that they’re good — mounting a moral defense of free-market capitalism."

ContraryOne

The poverty fate in most states has increased the last few years, thanks to the Bush Recession. But it's OK because the rich are getting richer, corporate profits are at an all-time high, and the stock market is soaring.

If a person is poor it must be his fault because Capitalism is so efficient at distributing wealth

realitycheck

"For more than 50 years, state and federal programs aimed at helping the poor have been failing miserably to lift around one in 10 West Virginians out of poverty. During the past few years, the poverty rate in our state has increased."

Another "great editorial. The above paragraph is all you need to know.